Trick or Treat

Tootsie Rolls are ready and waiting by the front door.

October's Bright Blue Weather

Autumn is a Tapestry

of color in the woods behind the house. We took advantage of the mild weather today and replaced some dead shrubs with white azaleas.

Pasta With Mushrooms and Chicken

sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and served with garlic toast points. It's melting. Ummm! Let's eat.

The autumn season is short and sweet. The light diminishes, the temperature drops, the rain falls, the wind blows, and the leaves flutter to the ground making even the cold rainy days hauntingly charming.

Pink Honeysuckle

and pastel pumpkins

along with shasta daisies

cheerfully enliven dark, rainy days of October.

Ornamental Cabbage

can enhance and extend your fall season.

Beautiful Season

I'm glad I didn't remove the cypress vines during garden clean up a few days ago. Today I saw a straggler hummingbird. The summer resident hummingbirds left a couple of weeks ago.

Test Your Botanical Knowledge

This herbaceous perennial with graceful, branching stems 2-4 feet high from a clump of dark green, 3-5 lobed leaves covered with soft hairs, flowers with 2-3 inches across, semi-double in white, pink, or rose blooms in the fall. There are many named varieties.

Answer

Osteospermum

A few are still blooming. I love the white with blue-centered one.

Colors of Nature-Autumn

While shopping, I found this lovely cake plate. I'm ready for a tea party.

Beaver Dam Creek

runs behind my house. This morning was cool, clear and colorful.

Blooming Onion

Core your cooked blooming onion before you serve it. Hubby recently bought a gadget for just this pupose.@:-)

Birder's Collective Nouns

Collective Nouns

Autumn Leaves

White-tailed Deer

A five point buck came to browse in our garden. He seemed to favor my hostas. Thankfully, he only took a leaf here and there. It's the first male I have seen in a long time. Maybe, we are a refuge from hunters.

Kyoto Maples

Gourds

of many colors, shapes and sizes are an intriguing part of Halloween decor. I want to save some seed this year and grow my own.

Rhododendrons in Fall

The first year we were here, I thought this lovely rhododendron blooming in the fall was an unusual out of season occurence. It, however, blooms spring and fall every year.

More Succulents

Crassula dubia and Euphorbia milii/Crown of Thorns

I've seen a white crown of thorns also.

Blue Pumpkin

Cucurbita maxima 'Jarrahdale' is an unusual color for a pumpkin. I seem to like the pastel colored ones this year.
Autumn Leaves

Peanut Pumpkin

There's always a new cucurbit. I've seen them with the peanut like growths all over. I like this one that is partially covered with the pink skin showing.

Chandelier Plant

Bryophyllum tubiflorum forms new plants on the tips of it's leaves.

Test Your Botanical Knowledge
This epyphytic plant is native to Brazil. It is about 2 ft (60 cm) tall, has silver-green leaves and an inflorescence made of pink bracts and tiny blue flowers.
Answer

Earth Star

Cryptanthus bivittatus 'Pink Star' is a terrestrial bromeliad that can uniquely photosynthesize by a chemical pathway called crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) which allows the plant to uptake carbon dioxide at night when humidity is higher and store it until the next day.